Watching and sharing TV and films illegally could now land you in prison for up to 10 years thanks to a new law passed last week.

The maximum prison sentence for copyright infringement has been increased from two years to ten, after a recommendation was put forward by the UK International Property Office (IPO) .

The Digital Economy Act received Royal Assent, meaning the harsher punishments have officially passed into law.

Illegal streaming pay-per-view content on Kodi could land you in hot water

The minister of state for Digital and Culture, Matt Hancock, said: "I'm delighted the Digital Economy Act has become law.

"This legislation will help build a more connected and stronger economy. The act will enable major improvements in broadband roll-out, better support for consumers, better protection for children on the Internet, and further transformation of government services."

What does it mean?

But what does this really mean for those illegally streaming films and TV?

Kieron Sharp, the CEO of FACT, told the Daily Mirror the copyright measures included in the bill are primarily targeted at those committing a serious offense.

Letter of the law

Regardless of the practicalities of enforcing the bill, the act does mean those using streaming services or torrents to watch copyrighted material are - under the letter of the law - criminals.

As the Open Rights Group notes, Clause 27 of the act states criminal liability is to be determined by "causing loss" and "risk of loss" to the owner of the copyright.

This is defined as merely failing to pay a licence fee, so ordinary people engaged in domestic "file sharing" on a non-commercial basis could potentially find themselves facing long jail sentences.

Furthermore, the raised penalties could be used for speculative invoicing by predatory law firms.

There are a number of companies, often referred to as "copyright trolls", that look for evidence of copyright infringement online, in order to send threatening letters asking for payment.

Copyright Trolls

"While we don't think that all those people are going to suddenly face criminal charges, they can be threatened with it," said Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group.

"That's going to fuel all kinds of copyright letter-writing - at its worst, the copyright trolls, who send people invoices saying 'you owe us hundreds of pounds for file-sharing and if you don't pay up we'll take it to court'.

"That's going to make that threat really serious, because it's potentially attached to a 10-year sentence. And that's going to make it much harder and much more onerous for people to say, 'No, I didn't do this, I'm innocent'."

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The boxes, which he sold for around £1,000 each, enabled his customers to stream live "pay to view" content - including live Premier League football - free of charge. Mr Mayes falsely claimed that they were "100 per cent legal".

"I hope this conviction sends a clear message that criminal activity doesn't pay," said Lord Toby Harris, chair of National Trading Standards, at the time.

"I would also warn any person or business selling or operating such a device that they are in breach of copyright law."